A house at 148 Hillside Road was completely destroyed by fire Sunday morning and an investigation is under way.

According to Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley, both fire and police investigators have ruled the fire to be “suspicious” in nature, although he did not elaborate on the reasons.

Oak Ridge 911 dispatchers received the fire call at 4:08 a.m. Sunday, Kerley stated in an email. The house was fully engulfed in flames when the first police officer arrived at the scene.

Fire crews brought the fire under control in approximately 20 minutes, Kerley stated, but after investigating the fire and interviewing the house’s owner and renters, the Fire Department chose to allow the fire to rekindle and burn down. The decision was made because of safety concerns over the house leaning and possibly collapsing onto adjacent property.

The adjacent house suffered minor damage — four windows were broke and the paint was scorched.

Owner J.R. Nine told Fire Department personnel that the house was one of his three he rents and it was insured. The renters were relocating to Knoxville at the time of the fire and had removed most of their personal property on Saturday afternoon. The electricity and gas had been turned off.